Golf: Ogilvy named International's assistant for Presidents Cup

FILE PHOTO: Australia's Geoff Ogilvy tees off on the ninth hole during the second round of the 2013 U.S. Open golf championship at the Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, June 14, 2013. REUTERS/Matt Sullivan/File Photo

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Internationals team captain Ernie Els named Australian former major winner Geoff Ogilvy as one of his assistants for the biennial tournament against the Tiger Woods-captained United States at Royal Melbourne next year.

Ogilvy, who assisted Internationals captain Nick Price at the 2017 tournament in New Jersey, posted an individual record of seven wins, six losses and one halve in three Presidents Cup appearances.

The 41-year-old also held a perfect 3-0-0 record in singles and has intimate knowledge of Royal Melbourne, having owned a house adjacent to the layout for years.

“He’s an absolute natural fit to be one of the assistant captains,” Els said of Ogilvy, who famously denied Phil Mickelson victory at the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

“He was my first choice being a local man in Melbourne and knowing the Sandbelt.”

The Internationals had their only victory in 12 stagings of the event at Royal Melbourne in 1998, when Peter Thomson’s team defeated Jack Nicklaus’s United States 20.5 to 11.5.